I’ve been using this guide for my necromancer summon build.
I’m no Diablo expert but the advice I can offer is that a summon builld performs well in places with lots of space to maneuver but they’ll cause traffic jams in tight corridors like those found in the Maggot Lair or get separated on pathways like those leading up to Diablo’s sanctuary. Your summons and revived monsters can handle trash mobs with ease but they can get overwhelmed against hard hitting packs led by elite monsters.
Unfortunately, against Diablo himself they’re practically useless. On my first attempt at Diablo on normal he swatted my summons down in the blink of an eye. Not even an army of hulking Udar’s stand a chance against him. I had to cheese Diablo by spamming a fire golem to distract him while I plinked away at him with a frost damage bow. It must’ve taken ten minutes to kill him due to the frequent trips back to town for more mana potions.
On Hell difficulty I was able to handle Diablo with relative ease because I respec’d using that guide above. With points invested in decrepify I was able to keep him pinned in one spot while distracting him with a fire golem. My summons of skeletons and revived monsters lasted a bit longer than on normal but you still can’t count on them to tank Diablo. ose found in the Maggot Lair or get separated on pathways like those leading up to Diablo’s sanctuary. Your summons and revived monsters can handle trash mobs with ease but they can get overwhelmed against hard hitting packs led by elite monsters.
Unfortunately, against Diablo himself they’re practically useless. On my first attempt at Diablo on normal he swatted my summons down in the blink of an eye. Not even an army of hulking Udar’s stand a chance against him. I had to cheese Diablo by spamming a fire golem to distract him while I plinked away at him with a frost damage bow. It must’ve taken ten minutes to kill him due to the frequent trips back to town for more mana potions.
On Hell difficulty I was able to handle Diablo with relative ease because I respec’d using that guide above. With points invested in decrepify I was able to keep him pinned in one spot while distracting him with a fire golem. My summons of skeletons and revived monsters lasted a bit longer than on normal but you still can’t count on them to tank Diablo.
Well I got to the Ancients without too much issue but it looks like that’s where I’m going to be staying for a while. I don’t think there’s any way with my current gear and mercenary that I’m getting through them. They do way, way too much damage for any kind of merc tanking strategy to work unless perhaps if I decide to carry an entire inventory full of Full Rejuvenation potions.
I might try the TP + Fire Ball trick I used on Duriel at some point, but I doubt it’s feasible against the three of them (especially since at least one of them will be Fire Immune, and they also have an axe thrower). I managed to take the Whirlwind guy out by kiting and dropping Blizzard behind me, but that takes forever and uses a ton of mana.
I might just have to farm and farm and then farm some more to level up and hope to get some decent drops to significantly up my skills and my merc’s survivability.
This is my love/hate relationship with Diablo the past 20 something years.
Fortunately, I have a pretty high tolerance for farming. And when that breaks, I always enjoy starting a new twinked character; there’s always some unusual variant to discover.
My progress with my Barbarian has been really slow. I remember now why I never played a Concentrate barbarian before. It’s such a boring skill compared to something like Frenzy. You’re sitting there slowly swinging your axe over and over and over. Not like Frenzy where you’re swingswingswingswingswinging between multiple enemies and such. Much more exciting.
Of course, it’s compounded by the fact that I’m still using a damned War Axe that just doesn’t do that impressive a damage. I just want to find one good weapon, any weapon, and redistribute my mastery points to whatever that weapon is, but I haven’t found any.
I’m desperate enough that I’m thinking maybe I should just find a good plain weapon like a two handed mace, and go Imbue that with Charsi from Act 1.
The nice thing about the shared stash is it makes it easy to swap equipment that you find with other characters. So if nothing else you could always try a faster build and then keep nice melee weapons that you find in the shared stash and send them over to your Barbarian.
Concentrator is definitely not a fast build, but well-equipped it is a heavy hitting tank at the end (11000 attack rating, 3000-5000 damage, 22000 defense, 3000 life). Even Physical Immunes aren’t spared, because even 1 point in Berserk gives you huge magic damage. Being able to survive the absolute worst mobs and stand toe-to-toe with Act Bosses in Hell without breaking a sweat makes it worth it to me.
So yeah he’s not going to clear areas in seconds like a Hammerdin, Necro, or Sorceress, but it’s the only build I’ve ever felt legitimately safe with in all situations in Hell. Gear is important, but gear is important for almost every build once you’re in the late game.
Yeah, I should level up a Trap Assassin again. I know the first 5 died, but the fifth one got to Baal’s minions. The best part about that Trap Assassin is that she doesn’t need good equipment.
One feature I really appreciate is that when you’re getting really hard by stuff suddenly, or are low in health, the controller lets you know. I don’t know what’s going on exactly, it pulses suddenly in your hands in a way that gets your attention. It’s a great effect.
So after a few dozen Ancient Tunnel runs I had built up about 50 or 60 Full Rejuvenation potions (and not much else because of shit drops), and I also upgraded my Merc’s Shaftstop armor to the Elite version. Two attempts is then what it took me to take out the Ancients. I found that hitting the book and then immediately teleporting to the south corner of the arena caused just one or two of them to follow instead of all three. My first attempt I just got a terrible draw with two of them having Cold / Fire Immune. The second attempt only one of them did, and that was that.
The Worldstone Keep is absolutely treacherous, but I made it through, and then Baal and his minions were a piece of cake. I was actually shocked by how effective Blizzard was even on Lister’s mob (I was able to kill most of them while they were off-screen, and then I just pushed Lister against a pillar with Telekinesis while my Merc polished him off).
Next up I’m thinking…Summon Necromancer. It’s such a fun build, and I can’t wait to see how everything looks in Resurrected.
I want to eventually do an Assassin and Druid build, because those are the only two classes I never beat Hell with (I gave up at CLVL 68 and 69 respectively).
That’s what I’ll probably make next. The Assassin I made back in the day was a Kick Trapper that used Dragon Talon and Death Sentry and I remember it being pretty fun, but once I got to Hell it was kind of brutal.
I found a really good Buriza while farming nightmare meph, so my bowzon is now in full speed level mode to get 41 and use it. Such a lucky drop playing offline, it’s awesome getting end game drops when playing solo self found.
This reminded me I have a Buriza I stashed away and I’ve been thinking about starting an Amazon. Did a little more research and found the Buriza is an awesome weapon for a Fury Druid build and I already have a Lvl 50+ Druid I’ve parked a while thinking about how I’ll respec. Just got my answer, thanks!
Concentrate is a niche build(mainly boss/uber tanking) and it pretty much requires having other chars who can do magic find runs. A shit equipment cold sorc with 100-200% magic find is about 3 times more efficient in most farming spots.
Not sure but most likely. The 100% piercing is insane with multi shot or strafe. If you put a nef in this, or have knockback on gloves it’s just stupid for clearing, nothing ever gets to you.
Annoyed at myself. When I need to buy shit I withdraw gold from my stash. Usually all of it. When I’m done I deposit it back. I think you can see where this is going. Low level barb, shopping. Hit the portal back to the maleus area. Time to go for Andy. Jail level one, swamped and killed by ghosts.
Lost 140,000 gold. Luckily he was too low level to take it all, so I still have about 50,000. But still. Bad Rich.
That’s a bummer. I too withdrew gold from my chest whenever bought stuff but then discovered the game will automatically deduct from your chest the amount needed to cover purchases.
I finally made it to hell with my summon necro and I’m doing ok so far but keeping my merc alive is something else. It’s very costly to keep resurrecting him as he levels up. Right no it’s 50,000 gold per resurrection.
I’m guessing you’re depositing into one of the shared stashes, like me, and I’m betting JMR is depositing into his personal stash. For a hardcore character, that’s too dangerous so I never deposit into the personal stash. Which does mean I have to withdraw before I can buy anything like you.
I’m settling into the long game with my Sorceress by doing magic find runs, and lots of them. Generally Andariel, Mephisto, and Pindleskin, but occasionally the Summoner, Pits, and Ancient Tunnels. She’s using…
…and some miscellaneous MF charms, for a grand total of 466% magic find. I’ve found dozens of good / great set, unique, and rare items for my other builds. They certainly won’t be wanting for good gear at least. I just wish the shared stash was larger. A lot larger. I’ve filled them all, plus the personal stashes of several new builds already.
